Law and order situation in most of the districts in Uttar Pradesh was not conducive to hold the forthcoming urban body elections, State Election Commissioner S K Agarwal said today. “Only if things move in the right direction, the election process for the urban bodies will be declared by June 6 or 7,” he said, issuing directives to officials to improve the situation before the exercise is carried out.

Agarwal, who has so far reviewed preparations in three zones of the state, was here today to hold his fourth review meeting. He said that mostly he has found that law and order situation in the districts falling under those zones was not satisfactory.

“In most of the districts falling in these zones, crime and criminals have increased and police is not taking adequate measures. Police department has been told to take strong action to improve the situation and ensure that all criminals are behind bars before elections,” he told reporters here.

On the newly created nagar nigams of Ayodhya-Faizabad and Vrindavan-Mathura, he said if all preparations are completed in time, elections will be held there too along with the entire state or else they will be done later.

To a question, the SEC said that urban body elections will be conducted through EVMs as people have faith in them. Chairing the meeting, he directed the officials to improve law and order situation and asked the respective district administrations to keep a close watch on caste and communal tension.

He warned that officials will be held responsible for any laxity and gave clear directives that wherever required CCTV cameras and drone cameras would be installed during polling and counting of votes.